The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to systems and methods for diagnostic medical imaging, and more particularly to Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI) systems.
Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI) is used to image breasts to detect, for example, tumors, lesions, and/or cancer. In operation, a patient is positioned within the MBI system such that the patient's breast is positioned between a pair of detectors. A single or a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) images, commonly each at a different orientation in respect to the patient's breast, is then acquired.
In operation, patient organ and lesion motion may be a significant source of image quality degradation. Respiratory motion is the most common involuntary motion encountered in MBI imaging due to the required duration of MBI scanning necessary to obtain clinically useful information. More specifically, in some cases the patient may move involuntarily such that the position of the breast is not consistent during the acquisition of each of the images. For example, in contrast to mammography imaging, where the breast is compressed for a short duration it takes to complete the X-ray exposure, MBI imaging generally performs data acquisition for several minutes. In some cases, a patient may experience discomfort due to the duration of the MBI imaging scan. Therefore, for MBI imaging the breast is immobilized between the MBI detectors using reduced pressure in comparison to the pressure used in mammography imaging. The reduced pressure is less effective in holding the breast in a fixed position and may therefore allow some motion of the breast respective to the MBI detectors. The combination of the reduced pressure and long imaging time may therefore increase the likelihood of image blurring due to motion. The involuntary motion may be particularly detrimental when a physician is determining the size of a lesion, determining the location of the lesion, or quantifying the lesion.